iRate: What to watch on Amazon Prime during your self-quarantine

By JASON GUYER
The lists keep coming. In all honesty, it is hard not to make them with film releases being postponed.

In past weeks, lists for the Top 15 on Hulu and Netflix have been done. Hence, the last of the three major streaming platforms is Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime was a much harder list to compile. Out of the three streaming services, Amazon Prime had the most variety of good films.

The films I chose are varied and chosen because they are good films and ones everyone should watch.

There were many that I left off the list in order to give a more varied list. Comedies like “Never Going Back” or “Summer of ‘03” were left off. Some films where painstakingly left off like the drama “The Farewell,” which should be near the top of this crowded list.

However, with all number lists, one shoots for variety and aims to engage the many not just the few.

I hope everyone can find something on here to enjoy.

Here are my Top 15 films to watch on Amazon Prime.

1. The Boondock Saints — Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) grow tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston and are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice.

2. The Lighthouse — Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.

3. Lady Bird — Marion McPherson is a mother who works tirelessly to keep her family afloat after her husband loses his job. She also maintains a turbulent bond with a teenage daughter.

4. Escape from New York — In 1997, a major war between the United States and the Soviet Union concluded, and the entire island of Manhattan was converted into a giant maximum security prison. Snake Plissken, a former Special Forces soldier turned criminal, is recruited to retrieve the president after Air Force One is hijacked and crashes into the island, the president is taken hostage by a group of inmates.

5. Hot Summer Nights — An awkward teenager gets in over his head dealing drugs while falling for his business partner’s enigmatic sister during one scorching summer in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

6. Bio-Dome — Bud and Doyle are simultaneously dumped by their eco-conscious girlfriends, Monique and Jen, in the middle of the desert. When the pair need a bathroom, the two friends enter what they think is a mall but soon realize is a high-profile, secure biological experiment.

7. Midsommar — When a couple travel to Sweden to visit their friend’s rural hometown for its fabled midsummer festival the trip quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.

8. The Aeronauts — In 1862, headstrong scientist James Glaisher and wealthy young widow Amelia Wren mounted a balloon expedition to fly higher than anyone in history. When the ascent reduces their chances of survival, the unlikely duo soon discover things about themselves.

9. The Cable Guy — Quirky cable installer Chip Douglas attempts to strike up a friendship with customer Steven Kovacs by offering him premium channels at no cost. However, when Steven rebuffs Chip’s frequent need for companionship, Chip goes from an eccentric friend to a full-fledged psycho.

10. Rambo: Last Blood — John Rambo tries to find some semblance of peace by raising horses on a ranch in Arizona. He’s also developed a special familial bond with a woman named Maria and her teenage granddaughter Gabriela. When a vicious Mexican cartel kidnaps Gabriela, Rambo crosses the border on a bloody and personal quest to rescue her.

11. God’s Not Dead — After he refuses to disavow his faith, a devout Christian student (Shane Harper) must prove the existence of God or else his college philosophy professor (Kevin Sorbo) will fail him.

12. Stop Loss — Staff Sgt. Brandon King returns home to Brazos, Texas, ready to re-enter civilian life. Unexpectedly, the Army invokes a clause in Brandon’s military contract, requiring him to return to active duty in Iraq. Michele, his close friend, helps Brandon as he goes AWOL and struggles to find a way out of the dilemma.

13. Hereditary — The matriarch of the Graham family passes away. Now her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry.

14. The Descent — A year after a severe emotional trauma, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) goes to North Carolina to spend some time exploring caves with her friends; after descending underground, the women find strange cave paintings and evidence of an earlier expedition, then learn they are not alone: Underground predators inhabit the crevasses, and they have a taste for human flesh.

15. Rat Race — A group of rich eccentrics that will bet on anything, pit six ordinary people against each other in a wild dash for $2 million jammed into a locker hundreds of miles away. The wealthy group of friends monitor each racer’s every move to keep track of their favorites. The only rule in this race is that there are no rules.

Jason Guyer is an avid moviegoer and works in the graphics department at the Eagle Times. For questions or comments he can be emailed at [email protected].